Search form

You are here

Want to reverse engineer low carb hi fiber wrap

Want to reverse engineer low carb hi fiber wrap

I buy a brand of tortillas that is marketed as low carb high fiber and whole wheat. I would like to try my hand at making them at home. One of the reasons I like them is that they are rather flexible (all the gum,probably). I'm sure they'd taste even better.

We must buy the same ones... La Tortilla Factory. I buy these because they are about half, or more, the calories of other tortillas or wraps that I have seen on the market. They do stay rather flexible, even cold from the frig. I think they taste rather good and if a similar, lower calorie, version can be produced... I'm there! Can't wait to see.....

Now if only some of the tortilla makers,gluten-free cooks and perhaps people familiar with using oat fiber would chime in. I may post a separate inquiry on just that subject elsewhere. It is a big world and a lot of people are on this forum.I hope someone can help.

is a British product that I picked up at an import shop here in Japan...I don't remember the exact price, but it was outrageously high for an ingredient I was buying 'on spec', with no particular recipe in mind. It was a nice, tasty addition to mixed-grain loaves and seemed to add some interest to my rye starter in small quantities...

I know oat and barley bran are high-fiber, and good sources of "beta-D-glucans" which I think is what "oat fiber" refers to in an ingredients list...I have no idea whether that means the manufacturer has used oat or barley bran in the recipe, or whether they have derived the beta-D-glucans by some 'processing' of the bran. I'd be game to try the bran itself, but it MIGHT interfere with gluten development...perhaps that's why the ingredients specify inclusion of VWG? What do you think?

Oat Bran is the fiber in Oats can be purchased at many stores like Whole Foods or a places that carry organic foods. It really sucks up the moisture when added to recipes so keep that in mind when you are formulating your recipe.

I'm interested in this as an intellectual exercise, so I did some calculations.

First of all, the percent weight of fiber in the tortilla is 12/62, or 19%. According to the USDA database, the percent fiber in oat bran is 15.4%, in hard winter wheat is 12%, and in soy flour is 16%. Therefore, oat fiber is the required source rather than oat bran. According to Honeyville, oat fiber is 93% fiber. For a 62g tortilla, there cannot be more than 20g of oat fiber, or the fiber content of the tortilla will exceed 19%. Furthermore, the ingredients will be present in descending quantity in the order given. As a wild-assed guess, I calculated the outcome of 18g of oat fiber, 14g of hard winter wheat, and 10g of low fat soy flour. The total weight of those is 42g, which leaves 20g for water, gluten, oil, and the two gums. If it were all water, that would be roughly 50% hydration, counting fiber as a flour.

The fiber content of the 18:14:10 was 20% vs the tortilla value of 19%.

The carbohydrate content of the 18:14:10 was 30% vs the tortilla value of 29%.

The lipid content of the 18:14:10 was 1% vs the tortilla value of 4%, but the oil will add lipids.

The protein content of the 18:14:10 was 6% vs the tortilla value of 13%, but the gluten will add protein.

The caloric content of the 18:14:10 was 86 vs the tortilla value of 80.

According to the KAF forum, you only need about a teaspoon of gums per cup of flour.

I had googled the nutritional data of all the major compnents,as you did,and contemplated the relationaship of the percentages. I was just about to sit down and start cranking out some of the math when I refreshed the screen. Thank you! I can do it but it does not come easy!

Gluten has 21g protein/ounce(28 g). If I need to make up the difference in the protein from 6% in the 18:14:10 to 13% for the tortilla, then that should be about 4g wheat gluten needed.This would add 14 calories for a caloric total of 100. The oil would add a few more calories so, while not being exact, I think this is a start to getting close.

So a starting recipe:

18 g oat fiber

14 g WW flour

10 g lowfat soy flour

4 g wheat gluten

1 tsp(2g) combined xanthan gum and guar gum

about 16 g oil and water

This is only about 38% hydration (16g water/42g flours,fiber,gluten)-not counting the oil- and these are very thirsty types of flours. That will make for a tough roll out.

Is there a typical amount of weight loss through evaporation for a tortilla? More water can then be added up front. Our calculations are based on the final weight of the tortilla. It might have started life a little heavier and the ratios may need some adjusting.

Water comes first on the list, so there has to be more water than oat fiber. I bet if you add enough water to make it workable then you can scale the entire thing to size once you get the thing to not fall apart using the gluten and gums. I'm sure more fine-tuning can be done on the three main solids, too, maybe assisted by taste. I just picked nice even numbers for my calculations.

When I found this thread, I was really wishing someone had reported back, so I decided to report back when I tried it. I didn't have any whole wheat flour so I increased the amount of wheat gluten. I think it's pretty good, although I'll try adding 1/4 tsp. baking powder to the recipe next time.

18 g oat fiber

10 g soy flour

18 g vital wheat gluten

1 tsp combined xanthan gum and guar gum (I just used guar gum)

1/16 tsp. salt

8 g oil, plus more to oil your hands and the pan

80-90 g water

Combine the dry ingredients. Add the oil and then add the water gradually until you have a soft dough. Let the dough sit for a couple minutes to hydrate.

Meanwhile, heat a cast iron skillet (I have one without sides, which is great for flatbread) over medium heat.

Oil your hands and form the dough into 2 balls. Roll a ball out between 2 sheets of parchment paper or 2 silpat (my preference) until it is very thin.

Lightly oil the pan and carefully lay the flatbread on it. (It’s easiest to remove the top silpat, then to leave it on the bottom silpat except a side that you lay on the pan and then lift the silpat away as you lay the flatbread on the pan.) Let the flatbread cook until it becomes easy to flip and browns a bit. Flip it and cook the other side until it browns a bit.

All original site content copyright 2015 The Fresh Loaf unless stated otherwise. Content posted by community members is their own. The Fresh Loaf is not responsible for community member content. If you see anything inappropriate on the site or have any questions, contact me at floydm at thefreshloaf dot com. This site is powered by Drupal and Mollom.